Multidisciplinary Work Key to Nanobiotech Breakthroughs

What may seem like science fiction, will soon be scientific facts because of discoveries in nanobiotechnology.

That is what Peter Searson, Johns Hopkins University professor and director of the Institute for NanoBioTechnology (INBT), told members at a meeting of the Regional Manufacturing Institute (RMI) of Maryland on Aug. 23.

Nanobiotechnology could allow a physician to comprehensively and remotely analyze a patient’s health in real time, based on the data gathered from a single drop of blood, Searson explained. “This is just a brief vision of how health care could be conducted in as little as 10 or 20 years into the future, thanks to nanobiotechnology.“

Another theme of the evening was the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration—ideas elucidated by Johns Hopkins University’s technology transfer chief.

“In the future, breakthroughs will come at the boundaries of disciplines“ says Aris Melissaratos, senior advisor to Johns Hopkins president for enterprise development. “No longer can you dig deep into one discipline and hope to achieve dramatic progress. You need to cooperate with other disciplines much more than everâ€¦ A lot of this interdisciplinary work comes together in centers and institutes.“

Michael Galiazzo, executive director of RMI, hosted the event, which was held at the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

INBT is a working model of how the blending of disciplines such as engineering, the sciences, medicine, and public health can produce revolutionary nano-sized applications to solve problems in health care and medicine.